If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

20130101_33.jpg She is nothing but fun!! That said, and I love my Chessies, if I wanted to do well in upper level field trials and that was my goal, I would have to go with the ever-reliable and easier to train lab. But who wants easy?20130101_33.jpg

I was not allowed to buy, or even look at the pups of the litter I found, the very first time. Until I passed the kitchen table interview. And they brought in an old snarling 13+yr old incontinent bitch to rest her drooling jowls on my knee for the whole time. It was 1997 in Stanbridge East Quebec. The first question they asked.

Why do you think you want a Chessie?
And it went from there.

I do think they have a bit of wild in them. Example, 3 weeks ago. I had 2 and my Brothers 1 Chessie at the family deer camp and our Dad had his Lab. 2 in the morning outside the wild dogs start up the baby cry howl in the distance. You know it? The Chessies gather at the door hackles scruffed and the pup Loco rumbeling low and they started into a group howl. Like fricken Wolves on the nature channel. It was actualy very cool. I mean the all roo and talk all the time all of them. But over the years I have seen maybe only a dozen true group howls. Outside the coydogs shut up, for the rest of the night, just shut up. And the Lab? She was under my Dads bunk and hid until daylight.
They are an odd, yellow eyed beast that will work with you, not for you.

"So what is big is not always the Trout nor the Deer but the chance, the being there. And what is full is not necessarily the creel nor the freezer, but the memory." ~ Aldo Leopold

"The Greatest Obstacle to Discovery is not Ignorance -- It is the Illusion of Knowledge" ~ Daniel Boorstin

When people ask me the difference between a Chesapeake & Lab, I usually explain that Chesapeakes are a more primitive breed. It's both good and bad that they never attained the popularity of Labs...good in that the breed hasn't changed that much and even one with what looks like a "nothing" pedigree will usually have the stuff to make a decent hunting dog. Good in that they aren't mass produced. But bad in that they're harder to find and definitely have a smaller gene pool and thus a higher rate of inherited problems like dysplasia.

Most of them are more territorial than Labs, but that is far different from aggression unless the dog isn't properly trained/socialized from a young age. Of the six I have now, the ones that I raised from birth are fine around anyone and other dogs; the ones that spent their formative years elsewhere are more reserved, and take truck guarding very seriously.

Lots of spot on feedback here ! Only thing I would add is when people call for training I tell them its not going to be a three month wonder. The ones that come in as a very young puppy tend to see me as their guy , and it takes time to assume their owner.